On Monday, 20 June, the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the African body during a virtual meeting in which only four African heads of state out of 55 invited took part, reports The African Report. The other African heads of state were attending a meeting of the Permanent Representatives Committee (PRC), which is preparing for the AU heads of state and government summit scheduled for 17 July in Lusaka, Zambia.
According to the report, the closed meeting was hosted by the current African Union Chair, Senegal’s Macky Sall, in the presence of Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the AU Commission. Three heads of state of Côte d’Ivoire, Libya, and the Republic of the Congo were in attendance. The other leaders were represented by foreign ministers or ambassadors.
According to unidentified sources, the Ukrainian President is said to have described Africa as a hostage to Russia’s colonial war with Ukraine, taken as a potent attack on Russia’s anti-colonial rhetoric in Africa.
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